Manually operable tongs



June 19, 1956 L, E. BOYD 2,751,245

MANUALLY OPERABLE TONGS Filed Aug. 17, 1951 INVENTOR ZEO/VA/PD 1 50 o MANUALLY OPELE TONGS Leonard E. Boyd, Oakland, Calif.

Application August 17, 1951, Serial No. 242,350.

3 Claims. (Cl. 294-41) Thisinvention relates to tongs for picking up articles, and, is particularly directed towards manually operable tongsadapted for engaging and separating a'number of irregularly shaped articles from a unit mass thereof, and for carrying such separated articles for subsequent deposit.

An object of the present invention is to provide manually operable tongs capable of substantially completely enclosing a quantity of material and securing thesame therein, and which may readily be opened so as to release such material therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide tongs of the character described in which means are provided for permitting entry of portions of the tongs into a pile of charcoal pieces or similar material so as to enable the tongs to engage and grip a full load of material upon the closing of said portions.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of. the type described which may readily be utilized for entry into the ground for removal and transplanting of a generally cylindrical portion of earth without injury or. damage to vegetation growing in such portion.

A still further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the character referred to which is characterized by its simple and light weight construction, which is capable of ready assembly and dismantling, and which is constructed of a minimum of ditferent parts so as to greatly reduce the manufacturing costs.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described in which novel means are provided for efiecting opening and closing of the material engaging jaw portions of the tongs, and in which a load of material may readily be carried in one hand.

A further object of my invention is to provide apparatus of the type described which may be used for grasping a log or similar lengthy article without requiring the user to touch the log in operating the tongs.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of the tongs of my invention, with the jaws in material engaging or closed position.

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side view of the tongs with the jaws in open position.

Numerous tong devices have heretofore been marketed and presented to the public, but due either to their complexity of structure, high cost of manufacture, or their extremely limited utility, such devices have not received any particularly enthusiastic reception by the trade. More recently, due to the popularity of outdoor patios and barbecues, many persons are required to handle pieces of charcoal in moving the latter from a storage receptacle to the fire, and the inconvenience in. handling such material by present day methods is widely known to persons practicing the same. In accordancewith the teachings of the present invention, I have-provided. tongs which are particularly adapted for picking up a load of charcoal from a storage bin without efiort by or annoying smudges appearing on the person'operatingthe tongs. While i state that the tongs are particularly adapted for the foregoing purpose, certain other applications will be hereinafter suggested, and still further uses will be. apparent to the users of the device.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the tongs of the present invention comprise a pair of cooperative jaw elementsll .and12mova'ole from an open position as shown in Figure 3 to a closedv or material grasping position best illustrated in Figure 1. For purpose of economy of production and possible replacement of parts, each of the jaws are identical, and include a back plate 13 havinga flat bottom surface 14 and an arcuate top 16, andextending forwardly from the latter are a plurality of tines 17 of generally arcuate shape whereby the preferably flat distal ends ls thereof on the respective jaw elements will be in contiguous relation upon the closing of the jaws. Theoutermost tines 19 on each jaw are substantially thickerthan the tines 17 and serrated as-at 21 to provide a gripping surface forlogs or like objects which may be inserted between the jaws with the longitudinal axis thereof lying across the serrations on both of the tines 19. It will be also noted that plates 13 are'provided with a. plurality of openings 22,.andin this manner, although the. charcoal pieces or other objects disposed between the closed jaws will be secured in position, dust or very small undesirable pieces will be permitted to either fall between the tines or through the said openings, irrespective of whether the jaws are held in a horizontal or vertical position. With the jaws in open position, as indicated in Figure 3, each jaw, due to its arcuate formalong-both a longitudinal and transverse axis, will act as a scoop, and by inserting the jaws verticaliy into a pile of'material-and rotating the same, the jaws will act in much the same-manner as a post hole digger, and permit a full load of material, whether charcoal, earth or other substances, to enter between the respective jaws .for subsequent removal.

Means are provided for 'manually' effecting opening and closing of theja'ws so as to. permit sequential grasping and-unloading of material therefrom. It is preferable thatthe actuatingineans'be likewise identical in form so that asinglernold or die will be capable of producing the pair of parts comprising such means. it is also desirable that the jaws be easily attached to the actuating means by a person possessing no particular skill so that the entire mechanism may be shipped in a dismantled condition, and whereby replacements can readily be substituted in the event of breakage of a part. As here indicated, the foregoing means comprise a pair of levers 23 and 24 arranged to be secured to the jaws 11 and 12 respectively. Such interconnection may be accomplished by providing an integral rearwardly extending lug 26 on each of the back plates 13 and as will best be disclosed in Figure l of the drawing, the lugs are disposed with one side thereof in a plane coinciding with an axial centerline of the jaw. Thus, with the jaws in assembled relation, the lugs will be disposed in vertically and horizontally offset relationship with the opposing surfaces thereof forming the vertical and horizontal centerlines of the jaws. Each lug is provided with a pair of apertures 27 registerable with like apertures 28 disposed at the distal ends of the actuating levers, and by means of bolts 29 and nuts 31, the levers may be secured to the respective jaw elements. The levers 23 and 24 possess a reverse curve, and are provided with an aperture 32 at approximately the point of tangency of the curves. A pin or bolt 33 is arranged to be inserted through the apertures 32 and secured therein by a nut 34 to eifect a pivotal interconnection of the levers. The ends of the levers remote from their connection with the jaws include handles 36 arranged to be manually grasped by an operator for actuating the levers and their associated jaw elements. It will be noted that when the jaws are in closed position, the handles 36 are disposed in substantially contiguous relation for convenient carrying of the tongs by a single hand of the operator, and Without danger of the jaws accidentally moving to their open or load releasing position.

From the foregoing description, the use and operation of the tongs is believed apparent. The operator by grasping one of the handles 36 in each hand may cause the jaws 11 and 12 to open. By pressing; downwardly, the jaws may enter soil, a load of charcoal, refuse, or other material until the back plates 13 are substantially level with the top of the mass of material. By then pressing the handles towards each other the material between the jaws will be trapped therein and may be readily carried to some other position for deposit. Although the jaw elements could be constructed of substantially imperforate members, the tine and apertured back plate arrangement disclosed herein is preferably for two primary reasons. First, the use of tines greatly facilitates entry of the jaws into a unit mass of hard irregularly shaped objects such as charcoal briquettes, with the end of each tine easily rendered lighter in weight, and also permits undesirable dust or other fine objects to immediately fall from the jaws back in the pile of material Without the danger of spreading such undesirably small particles to other localities. It will be noted that the apertured ends of the levers are enlarged at 37, these enlargements being generally of the same size as the lugs 36 and possessing an arcuate surface 38. As will be seen, each arcuate surface engages one edge 39 of the lug 26 to which the other lever is secured and acts as a limiting means for the jaws when the latter are being brought into closed relation. When the jaws are in open position, as was hereinbefore stated, the jaws are completely separated and thus each of the jaws acts as an independent arcuately formed scoop in initially engaging and/or undermining the material to be subsequently grasped.

I claim:

1. Tongs including a first elongated jaw member having a back plate downwardly curved in a plane transverse to the axis of the member and a plurality of elongated downwardly curved tines, a second jaw member cooperative with said first jaw member for engaging a load therebetween and including a back plate upwardly curved in a 30 passing between adjacent objects. Second, the. unit is t plane transverse to the axis of the member and a plurality of elongated upwardly curved tines whereby the ends of the respective tines may be brought into engaging relationship, a connecting lug extending rearwardly from each of said back plates with the lugs from the respective plates being horizontally and vertically oifset from the closure plane of the jaws, an S-shaped lever secured to each of said lugs, and means pivotally connecting intermediate portions of said levers for relative rotary movement therebetween whereby said jaw members may'be selectively opened and closed and with the distal ends of said levers in substantial immediate adjacency when said jaw members are closed.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the said back plates have openings therein through which material of a predetermined size may pass when the jaw members are in closed relation.

3. Tongs comprising a first jaw member having a back plate and a plurality of substantially flat tines extending forwardly of said plate, said stines being downwardly curved adjacent the distal ends thereof and having the longitudinal axes thereof in a curvate path, a second jaw member having a back plate and a plurality of substantially fiat tines extending forwardly of the plate and being upwardly curved adjacent the ends thereof, said latter tines also having their longitudinal axes lying along a curvate path, the outermost tine in each of said jaw members being substantially immediately adjacent the corresponding tine of the other jaw member for substantially the entire length thereof and having serrations along such lengths in opposed relation when the jaws are in closed relation with the intermediate opposing tines on the respective members being spaced from each other, a pair of handles each having one end secured to the respective back plates, means pivotally connecting said levers intermediate the ends thereof, each of said levers being provided with a generally S-shaped curve whereby the ends thereof will lie closely adjacent each other when the jaw members are closed and will be spaced from each other when the jaw members are opened, the length of each of said tines being substantially equal to the length of the other of said tines, and said back plates, said outermost tines and the confronting ends of all of said tines defining an article-receiving chamber.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 50,584 Holly Oct. 24, 1865 l,095,054 Wiesenfeld Apr. 28, 1914 1,482,174 Williamson Jan. 29, 1924 1,882,934 Rogaczewicz Oct. 18, 1932 2,125,214 Apfel et a1. July 26, 1938 

